A blog mostly about Rock music, but also travels, tv, cinema, books etc

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Goodies from GFreedom's Music Collection # 17

MIDLAKE: The Courage of Others (2010)

Midlake is an American Folk-Rock band from Denton Texas, formed in 1999 by a group of Jazz students at the University of North Texas College of Music.
In their early days they were into Jazz/Funk music, but slowly slowly tried a musical turn to Rock, and a bit later to Folk-Rock. As it seems they are influenced by bands from totally different music styles, and maybe that is why their music is so appealing and interesting. Their discography consists of 4 studio albums so far, and each one of those albums has something different to offer.
'The courage of others' was their 3rd studio album and definetely the most Folk one. I discovered this album recently, and immediately fell in love with it.
The album includes 11 songs, and almost all of them are worth listening to. The music style is a rather melancholic Rock with many English Folk influences, wonderful melodies, and a singer who's voice fits perfectly in the style of the music. (I must say that I was really dissapointed when I found out that their singer left the band after this album).
The song that first caught my attention was the opening track 'Acts of Men' which is one of the album's highlights in my opinion. But as I discoverd very soon, there are many beautiful songs here and now it's different to point out which ones I love the most.
In order to help you understand how their music feels like, I can say that it would be perfect on a rainy day, sitting next to a fireplace with a glass of wine in your hand, looking out of the window the gloomy weather. (At least this is the picture in my mind).
There s a rather big selection of musical instruments that are being used in the album, such as: acoustic and electric guitar, bass, drums, piano, keyboards, flute, harpsicord, dulcimer etc...
Upon its release, the album received good critics in general, and it became known in the Progressive Rock and Folk Rock circles.
In 2014, the drummer of 'System of a Dawn' John Dolmayan noted that he was a passionate fan of the album, stating: 'The Courage of Others is phenomenal, and this is a band that I
think could get up to that level of writing where they’re creating
albums that just work every time'.
Closing this post I have to say that I recommed this album, not only to the fans of English Folk Rock, but to all those who enjoy listening to melodic Rock music, and melancholic/romatic tunes.
I' adding here a couple of videos for you to have an idea about Midlake's music.
I hope you found this post interesting and informative.
Thank you for reading! :-)

Search This Blog

About Me

I was born in Athens Greece, and still live there with my wife and my son..
I was DJ in many rock bars and medium size clubs for many years,
therefore music is a very important part of my life. Im a motorcycles
fan, and enjoy travel a lot with my motorcycle. Lately me & my wife we are hosting an internet radio show, and I'm having a Blog on the side.Well, that's all for now... :)